


lanterns || kozume kenma x reader

by sincerely_bubbles



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, Festivals, Fluff, Panic Attacks, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:07:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26196856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincerely_bubbles/pseuds/sincerely_bubbles
Summary: meeting your soulmate has been something you've always had mixed feelings about - the pressure of having to be perfectly right for someone was almost unbearable - but once you met kenma, it all clicked.-essentially, I went to a prompt generator and wrote the first thing that popped up:“Their eyes met. Suddenly, they were alone in the crowd.”Kenma x fem!reader(this will have 2 parts, but part one can stand alone as well :p)
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Reader
Comments: 14
Kudos: 166





	lanterns || kozume kenma x reader

You were sure that your friends were going to be the death of you. Of all the ways you wanted to spend today, this was not one of them. The crowd around you was suffocating and the candy floss in your hand was sticky, the loud sounds of the festival surrounding you.   
“Come on! I want to try this one!” Your friend sent you a huge smile before grabbing your wrist and dragging you to yet another game that would inevitably be impossible to win, causing her to mope for a few minutes before she found another booth she wanted to try, or more sweets she wanted to eat.   
The game was a simple fishing game where you held a fishing-rod-like object with a magnet attached to it, and you had to attempt to fish out rubber ducks from the ponds. The bottom of the ducks had numbers on them corresponding with prizes lining the booths walls. Considering that it was early evening and no prizes seemed to be missing from the wall, you were pretty sure the magnets in the ducks were too weak to actually pull the ducks out of the water, but you still watched your friend and attempted to be encouraging.   
She attempted three times to get a duck, before sighing and handing the pole over to you. “You try!”  
You hesitantly accepted the pole and started to search for one of the smaller ducks – a smaller prize, but a better probability of actually getting the duck if your guesses from earlier were correct.   
Surely enough, it only took you a few moments to grab the small duck and win a plastic cat mask from the wall, causing your friend to squeal excitedly.  
“Here.” You handed it to her, but she only laughed and waved you off, telling you that since you earned it, it was yours.   
You followed her around for a bit longer before she got a call. You tried not to listen as she talked, instead reading a sign advertising a fortune teller who would describe your soulmate to you in vivid detail, if you only showed her your soulmate marking.   
Your soulmate marking wasn’t something you often considered. About ninety-eight percent of the population had some sort of marking or tell of some sort to help them find “the one” – red strings that attached their fingers together, count downs on their wrists, first words somewhere on their bodies, or, like you, and small tattoo somewhere on them that was uniquely matched in image and placing on your ‘other half.’  
You were excited to meet your soulmate, sure, but you never let it become an obsession for you after watching many of your peers become consumed by an event that they had no control over.   
Plus, there were many cases of soulmates separating, never meeting, or even just becoming close friends. The markings really only told you that the universe thought you were compatible with the other person.   
You rubbed your left wrist as you watched the sign with bored eyes, contemplating what this person would be able to tell from the small blue bear on your wrist. Surely, she couldn’t tell much about them other then the fact that they also had this exact same tattoo.   
“Hey, my brother tripped and sprained his ankle, so I have to walk him home. I’ll be back in like thirty minutes, I promise! Meet me at the Taiyaki booth we saw earlier, okay? Thanks!” She was gone before you were even able to suggest just seeing her at school on Monday, leaving you no choice but to wander around alone, not wanting to just ditch her with nothing but a text explaining your absence.   
“Excuse me?” There was a soft tug at your sleeve, and you looked down to see a small girl looking up at you with a wide smile. Behind her was obviously her mother, giving the little girl an encouraging look and you a meek smile. “I made a whole lotta flower crowns to pass out today and – and, I think that this,” she fumbled with the flower crowns looped around her small arms for a moment before pulling out an intricate yet subtle crown and thrusting it into your hands, “this one! This one will look really pretty on you.”   
Not wanting to be ruse, you took the crown and gave her a short bow, “Thank you.” You told her, sending her and her mother small smiles before placing it on your head, earning a delighted gasp and clap from the little girl.   
Her mother then thanked you and took her daughters hand, leading her away while the little girl stayed turned around to wave at you.   
Not knowing what else to do, you started to wander the streets of the festival, stopping at a few booths to look at anything that caught your eye.   
After you bought something small for yourself, you were unsure what else to do with your time. Your friend had texted you that she would probably be another twenty minutes as she had to run to the store for medicine for her brother, apologizing too many times for one text. You answered her assuring her that it was fine, despite the fact that the longer you were alone in the large crowd of loud people, the more uncomfortable you were becoming.   
Wary of a panic attack in the middle of the festival that would only become worse with the embarrassment that it would bring, you moved to the outskirts of the crowd and found the only empty bench for as far as you could see. You sat on your own for a bit, incredibly glad that you had the foresight to bring your headphones so that you could listen to music and escape the noise of people laughing and talking loudly. At some point, you noticed someone sitting on the same bench on the far side of you. You scooted over politely, giving them more room before taking out your phone to give yourself something to do with your hands.   
“Hey,” You glanced up at the call from the guy sitting on the bench next to you. He had black hair and seemed to be your age, “where did you win that?” He nodded at the mask sitting on your thigh.   
“This?” You asked, holding it up and examining it at his nod. “Um, the rubber duck game further up that way.” You told him, motioning further into the festival.   
“It reminds me of someone I know – the face at least.” He explained, shooting you a smile.   
The face painted on the mask looked bored, unconcerned with anything.   
“I think we all know people who are kind of like this.” You commented, brushing your thumb across the cat’s eye, contemplating telling the guy he could have it.   
You weren’t expecting him to laugh. “Really? What makes you say that?”   
“Well, isn’t there always someone who seems unbothered by everything? Kind of expressionless?” You shrugged, “It’s not really a bad thing, just something I’ve noticed – there’s always someone who looks bored, no matter where you go.”   
You weren’t quite sure what suddenly made you so talkative to this stranger, but the conversation flowed easily. He contemplated your words for a moment before nodding.   
“Well, from my experience, those people may just be reserved, not just bored. Maybe they just don’t really like having everything written all over their face.”   
“Sounds like you know quite a few people who this reminds you of. . . do you want it? I won it for my friend, but she didn’t want to keep it.” You handed the mask out to him and he took it after a moment.   
“Nah, just one. But thank you.” A slow smile crossed his face as he looked over your shoulder, standing up and holding the mask over his head. “Hey! Look what I found!” He held out the mask to whoever was behind you and waved it around. “It looks just like you!”   
You turned around to see a boy with bleached blonde hair walking toward you, squinting his eyes at the mask the black-haired boy was waving around. Not wanting to be caught staring, you pulled out your phone again, seeing that your friend had texted and asked for you to call her.   
“Hello?” You asked after hearing the line pick up.   
“Hey! So, he twisted his foot really badly, and it’s pretty swollen. I think I might take him to the doctor. I’m really sorry to bail on you – after making you wait and everything!” Your friend started wailing about how sorry she was, to leave you and not get to eat any Taiyaki.  
“It’s okay.” You assured her, “And I can bring you Taiyaki on my way home.” All for the better you thought. Despite being away from the crowd, it was still draining you.   
“Okay! You’re the best, can you bring it over at like nine when you leave?”   
“Um, I don’t know if I’ll be here that long.” You admitted to her, now noticing that the black-haired boy was attempting to wrangle the cheap mask onto his friend’s face, his friend pushing him away.   
“You have to stay to light a lantern!” Your friend was insisting from the phone. “Plus, we’re leaving right now, so if you drop off the food now, it’ll go bad sitting on my doorstep. Please!” She drug out her peas, making you sigh.   
“Yeah, sure. I’ll light a lantern for you too then, I’ll see you later.” You hung up before she could make you promise to do anything else, and you began to tuck your headphones away.   
“Damn it! It broke!” You glanced up to see that the mask in the black-haired boys’ hands had in fact cracked and the blond boy was now on his phone, reading something. Suddenly, the black-haired boy’s head whipped up to look at you. “Hey, you. Do you think you could win another one of these? Or at least tell me how you did?”   
In that moment, you knew that there was a high probability that, despite looking your age, this boy might not be. And it probably wasn’t smart to spend any more time with him. But he seemed friendly enough and you really didn’t want to spend the rest of your night alone. Plus, his friend didn’t seem too overwhelming and if you got uncomfortable, it wasn’t hard to fake a call.   
So, you nodded.   
Excitedly, he smiled at you, “Nice! I’m Kuroo Tetsurou, this is Kenma Kozume.” He gestured to his friend beside him, “The bored-cat-mask guy.”   
Nodding, you introduced yourself before Kuroo happily lead you to where you gestured before in the crowd.   
“We’re second years at Nekoma High.” Your eyes widened as you fumbled to catch up to Kuroo again.   
“Me too, year 2, class 5.” You told him, motioning to the booth with a sort line leading up to it.   
“We’re in year 2, class 2.” You nodded, understanding how you had never seen him as you were in two different classes and you tended to eat in your room with a few friends rather then face the loud cafeteria. “So, how do you win this?”   
You explained to him briefly your guess about the weighted ducks, noting him nodding along, examining your face carefully.   
“You’re pretty smart then, huh? Come to think of it, isn’t 2-5 college prep?” You flushed slightly, nodding.   
“I wouldn’t say it was that hard to figure out though, it’s just that most of these games are rigged so that they make a profit.” You explained as you reached the booth.   
Kuroo bought the tickets and insisted on trying to do it himself. You noticed his friend was still there, playing on his phone, eyes blocked by his hair.   
After a few attempts at catching the small ducks, you noticed the festival growing more and more crowded as it got closer to night. The main event of this festival was the lantern lighting that started in about an hour, so it wasn’t much of a surprise, but the amount of people was slowly starting to grate on you.   
Your friends typically calmed you in situations like these. They knew of your hatred for loud crowds, and constantly encouraged you to try and push past it while also offering a calming, friendly presence as you did so. You were sure that your friend had forgotten just how bad it could get because you hadn’t gotten freaked out in a while. Plus, she as probably more worried about her brother than anything else, so you couldn’t really blame her.   
Plus, you were old enough to get through this alone. You should be at least.   
“Hey, are you busy for the rest of the festival?” You turned to see that Kuroo was holding a different version of the same cheap plastic mask you had before, and he was looking at you with a kind smile. “I heard a bit of your conversation, and you can hang out with us until the lanterns later, if you want.”   
“Uh, sure, thank you.” You accepted after a brief hesitation. You figured being with someone, even a stranger, would be better then being alone with your thoughts overwhelming you. “Did they not have any more of the other mask?” You asked as the three of you started walking, Kenma walking on the other side of Kuroo then you.   
“Nah, but it’s okay. I like this one too.” He held it up for you to see, and you noted the smiling cat painted on the plastic with a polite nod. “So,” He asked after a moment. “Are you in any clubs?”   
You answered him before returning the question, then listened for the next five minutes as he talked about volleyball, inviting you to come and watch a game sometime.   
“Uh, sure.” You agreed, knowing that you probably wouldn’t. You were sure that any kind of sports games involved loud, crowded spaces – something you were actually trying very hard not to think about right now.   
After another few moments of walking around and getting to know Kuroo better, he excused himself to go to the bathroom, calling over his shoulder that he would meet you two near where the lanterns were and leaving you and Kenma standing in the middle of the crowded street, the light rapidly fading.   
You spared an awkward glance to the blonde at your side only to find him typing something on his phone, looking uncomfortable from the small bit of his face that you could see.   
“Do you, uh, want to head that way? Get a few lanterns, or get in line, or something?” Kenma nodded and you started walking after taking a moment to realize that he probably wasn’t going to look up at you.   
Anyone else might have found him rude, but you were too focused on the fact that you couldn’t see anything other then people, and they were loud, and bumping into you every step you took, making your chest feel tight and your vision darken.   
Somewhere near you, a child screamed, causing you to jump at the sudden loud noise.   
You felt like sweat was pouring nonstop from your palms, and your heart was racing. You didn’t think that you were ever going to reach the end of the people.   
Forgetting about Kenma, you shoved your way through the crowd and off of the street, searching in vain for an area without people where you could hopefully try and learn how to breathe again.   
A hand gripped your wrist and started pulling you. You fought for a moment before feeling completely exhausted and letting it. It took you a few seconds of being pulled, and then you were behind a booth and your wrist was dropped.   
The sound was slightly more muffled here, and there were no people. You threw yourself to the ground and let your head hand between your knees, suddenly aware that you were crying and that you were gasping for breath.   
“Are you okay?” A quiet voice asked after a moment. You looked up and met Kenma’s eyes. Suddenly, you were alone in the crowd. For a moment, you only examined the golden, cat-like eyes staring at you, before coming to your senses and nodding.   
“Yeah. Uh, crowds are,” You gestured to the noise that somehow seemed a lot less of an issue now, with Kenma here and looking slightly concerned at you, “uh, well, not good. For me.” You explained lamely, averting your eyes.   
Kenma nodded before sitting down in front of you with plenty of space between your feet. You noticed a loop of flowers between his fingers. Following your gaze, he held up the flower crown the little girl had given to you.   
“You dropped it.” He explained. You reached out and took the crown from him.   
“Thanks.” You settled it atop your head, embarrassment flooding your chest. You looked up at Kenma only to see his eyes were wide. Even before when he was watching you panic in front of him, he had only looked slightly off-put, but now his jaw was hanging slightly open and his eyes were staring unblinking at you, much more intense-looking then you were expecting.   
You followed his gaze to your wrist, seeing nothing but your soulmate tattoo where it had always been. After a moment you looked back at him.   
“Are you, uh, good?” You asked, concerned at the fact that he was sitting there, motionless, almost in a trance.   
Kenma blinked before searching your face, his stoic expression back on his face. After another tense moment of silence that left you feeling awkward, he shoved the sleeve of his hoodie up on his left arm and presented it to you.   
There, on his wrist, plain to see, was a small blue bear. You lifted your hands to grab his wrist, to prove that what you were seeing was real, but hesitated. You had been paying attention today, as much as you could with the crowd, and the boy in front of you seemed extremely reserved, so you refrained, instead flipping your own left arm over and placing it next to his in the air.   
The tattoos were perfect replicas of each other.   
“Oh.” You whispered, feeling all of the breath leave your lungs as you looked at Kenma with new eyes.   
The fact that he and his friend were attractive wasn’t something that had slipped your mind. But, really, you hadn’t been paying too much attention. You took the time to actually look at the boy in front of you objectively and without the hard-to-forget lens of him being your literal soulmate determined by the universe.   
He was also looking at you, watching you. You became very aware of the fact that just minutes earlier you were crying, and now the area beneath your eyes felt swollen. Your nose was running, and your eyes were probably bloodshot. Underneath his gaze, you felt exposed, vulnerable. And yet, the way his eyes held yours for a moment before flicking away made you comfortable. The fact that he hadn’t immediately rushed closer to you, hadn’t said anything, hadn’t put any pressure on you at all to react whatsoever, hell, he hadn’t even expected you to hold eye contact with him. . . in that moment you were feeling so incredibly seen and safe.   
You sat there with him for a few moments, both of your wrists displayed to the other, but not saying anything. You were facing each other, and if you stretched out your legs, you were sure you could touch your shoe to his. Kenma’s head was turned away from you, but his eyes kept flicking over to look at you or your wrist.   
The sounds of the street on the other side of the booth didn’t seem so threatening now, and once you looked up, you noticed the sky was beginning to become dotted with lanterns.   
“Do you want me to walk you home?” Kenma asked softly, and you glanced at him to see he had turned to face you again.   
You shook your head. “No, I promised my friend I would light a lantern for her and grab her some food.” You said. It was quiet for a moment. “You don’t have to stay with me though, if you need to find Kuroo.”   
Kenma didn’t answer, instead leaning back slightly and pulling his phone out of his pocket. He typed on it for a moment, giving you a chance to look at him again.   
He was wearing a white hoodie with a red flannel tied around his waist. You noticed that it matched the one Kuroo was wearing over his black tee with a smile. His hood was barely resting on his head.   
“Stay here.” Kenma’s voice was soft before he stood and walked around the booth. You waited patiently for him to return, unsure of what he was doing.   
When he came back, Kenma was on the phone, listening to whoever was talking. You had stood up while waiting for him. He regarded you with curious eyes as he said goodbye to whoever was on the phone and hung up.   
“You promised your friend Taiyaki on the phone earlier, right?” Kenma asked, eyes flickering down to his phone as he talked softly.   
“Uh, yeah, you heard that?” Kenma only nodded, tapping on a few things on his screen.   
You stood in silence for a few moments, watching the lanterns while Kenma typed on his phone. The silence was accompanied by the background noise of the festival, but you instead focused on the sky above you. Somehow, the fact that Kenma hadn’t suddenly become more talkative around you comforted you. You were always afraid that when you met the person with the tattoo matching yours that it was be awkward. Or that they would expect too much of you. That they would expect you to open up to them immediately, and that they would do the same. Standing with Kenma in relative quiet eased these concerns.   
“Hey!” You turned to see Kuroo poking his head around the booth and smiling at the two of you. He walked forward holding a small white bag in one hand, and a few lanterns in the other. “Privacy, nice.” Kuroo winked at you before handing you the bag and two lanterns.   
“Thank you.” You told him, peeking into the bag to see steaming Taiyaki. “You really didn’t have to do this, let me pay you back.” You set the lanterns down to reach for your wallet until Kuroo waved you off, plopping down on the ground and beginning to write on his lantern.   
“My treat, don’t worry about it.” Kuroo glanced up at you with a wide smile, “And, if I really wanted, I’d make pudding head here pay. It’s the least he could do. . . for his soulmate.” Kuroo winked at you before continuing to write.   
You sent a glance to Kenma, his slight blush not going unnoticed. “Sorry.” He mumbled before sitting down and grabbing the last lantern left.   
Deciding to let it go, you sat down and grabbed the brush Kuroo offered you. “I figured you’d want one for yourself too.” Kuroo motioned to the two lanterns in front of you.   
“That’s really kind, thank you.” You set to work painting your friends name on the lantern before texting her a picture.   
Moving on to the second lantern, you carefully painted a small wish on it before assembling the both of them.   
The three of you lit the lanterns all at once, letting them fly in a group and watching their ascent. You thanked the two boys again and gathered your things to leave. You had only walked a few steps down the street before your name was gently being called. You turned to see Kenma walking up behind you, looking uncomfortable.   
“Can I. . . ” Kenma sighed, not meeting your eyes. “I know I don’t talk much, but would you like to, um, eat lunch together Monday?” Your chest felt warm as you nodded.   
“Yeah.” You said, “I’ll find you?” Kenma nodded and you mirrored him for a moment before turning away and making your way to your friend’s house with a small smile on your face.

**Author's Note:**

> (this will have one, maybe two, more parts - soon!


End file.
